Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-10-27

impression on me. I assure you have
never cared for mushrooms since"
katherine, you wretch! You ought to
| go on the STAGE"
| 81 ought to go to bed, and Pm going.
Put your arms around my neck and
solemnly swear you love me better than
any one in the whole world"
"And so do, except'-
Except. Very well. Twas ever thus
l-buttered side down again. But kiss me
and let me go. Pm willing to be second
| tome. Good night"
/ looked in the glass when I regained
my room to see il my hair was white, and
oh. how I sympathized with the early
martyrs! was a whole Fox's book full,
myself. Will that girl, that dear, happy
go-lucky little Pigeon, ever realize what I
have suffered tonight?
There is very little comfort in being a
martyr. Fate has fav ored me wonderful
ly. 1 have yet to meet my old love and
mess matters called him away for a
few days, and since his return
III have, by various hooks
and crooks, been able to keep out of his
| way. Several times I have had narrow
| escapes, and have been oblighed to per-
form incre dible feats of agility in the way
| of hiding and disappearing, to elude him
and it is greatly to my satisfaction, if not
my credit, that / have been successful.
But the game is up. Aunt Margaret gives
a party for US tonight. We are going
away tomorrow, I to my dingy school
room and Gingertown's hateful gossip;
| Bess to her beautiful home. Such is life!
| Heigho! Heigho! We must all have
our ups and downs. My ups were de-
| lightful while they lasted, and a young
woman who sets up in the martyr line
| should be able to endure her downs with
| tolerabe equanimity. But my whole soul
abhors poverty and it's small economies.
hate mended dresses and frayed collars,
| cheap shoes and inferior gloves. I declare
to the contrary to Aunt Margaret and
Bess. l insist that the struggle with
poverty is ennobling, that school-teach-
ing is good discipline, and quote En-
erson and Ruskin at them to prove it. But
don't believe q word of it, myself. The
| fact is, / am getting to be a dreadful
ory-teller, especially since I undertook
to be a martyr. tell whoppers on the
slightest provocation, without regard to
my conscience or hereafter.
] amnot over-pleased with the effect of
my toilet, as look at myself in the glass.
| The preliminary groau and squeaks of
| the violins announce the arrival of the
musicians, as / pin my violets to my
dress. I smile little mockingly, looking
down at them, and murmur, cynically:
FLOWERS appropriate to the OCCASION"
| Lying awake nights and rejecting on
my unhappy lot has made me thin and
pale. Beside Bess I am positively
scrawny, and look taller than ever.
There is something ridiculous about my
| position, renouncing when / have nothing
| to reanounce, and giving up all claim
| to heart I never ha d. A
fig for my martyrdom! And, yet, I can't
help feeling, yes, knowing, that if chose,
1 could win him back. am older, l know
more of the world than Bess, understand
| him a thousand times better than she ever
could; but 1 am Sin honor bound" He
belongs to Bess, and 1 resolutely deter
mine to forget the lines that have been in
my head all day:
Oh, that 'twere possible, after long grief and
| pain,
| To feel the arms of my tried love
Round me once again.
1t is not possible-at any rate, he is
Bess' lover, and it would be highly i'm
proper. Aunt Margaret sticks her head
in and tells me am radiant" Radiant
She ought to put on glasses. 1t was very
polite of her. 1t is not well-bred for aunts
to tell nieces they are rights, and Aunt
| Margaret is all manners.
| fall again into melancholy musing. I
am awfully ashamed of it, and disguised
| with myself; but I can't help it. I am
thinking that the gilt is pretty we'll
rubbed off my piece Of gingerbread, and
wondering whether it's worth eating,
when Bess floats in, ready to go down.
She is radiant, a lovely vision in blue
and silver. She throws down her fan
| and begins to draw on one Of her little
gloves.
katherine, congratulate me; Pm en-.
gagged. I had letter from him to-day.
Such letter! Shall read?'
"No, don't. Let me imagine it,"
"His cousin has taken him into partner
ship. DID I ever tell you he has rich
cousin in the Wholesale boot and shoe bust.
ness? And so it's settled; and we are 60
ing to be married at Easter, just as you
said. Wish me joy.
did, though it cost me something, look.
ing straight into her bright eyes.
'Mercy! 1t sounds like benediction.
You certainly ought to study for the
stage; you have such a STACEY way"
We go downstairs together, but that is
the last opportunity have of speaking to
way toward her, and my only
thought after that is to keep
out of his reach for little longer.
1 am miserable coward, I don't
deny. Like the "Brook," / snake sud
den sally" several of them. 81 slip, 1
slide," and in and out I "wind about, u
and fortune smiles, for it is close on eleven
and we have not yet come face to face. !
have escaped by the skin of my teeth sew
eral times. Once-horrors! in one of my
sudden sallies, plunged head-first into
the middle of Robinson Crusoe's waist
coat. He doubled up like a jackknife,
| l., h. !, IaI 7 10 4
| vanished.
/ am sitting now on a little sofa in a
small, dimly-lighted side-room. 1t is Sc
Guided and quiet. 1 have an ice on my
| lap, and Daisy, my companion in exile,
beams on me while I refresh myself after
| the chase. The sound of music and laugh
ter comes to us faint, yet sweet. / can
see, by craining my neck a little Bess
and her lover whirling around among the
dancers. Daisy is disposed to become
confidential. He spreads his handkerchief
on his knees and leans forward, clasping
his hands thereon. 1 am through with the
few general remarks 1 had on hand, and
Daisy has said: "Oh," 'tAh," and s'In-
deed" at the right places.
ado strike you, Miss Ford, as being-a
-aw-spooney?"
| "Spooney? Not in the least. Why?"
"I'm glad of it; am, indeed. I think
an immense lot of your good opinion, and
| know you would hate a fellow that
showed he was dead-gone on a girl, you
| know"
| Daisy was iourishing through his little
speech without help from me. supposed
| he was waiting for chance to rave about
| Bess, and then l would kindly but firmly
indicate the true state of things to him.
| 81 spoke to your aunt, and she-she re-